Aurora Bioscience launches the DigniCap™ scalp cooling system

The DigniCap™ system has been developed to provide continuous scalp cooling with high efficiency, safety and acceptable patient comfort.

SYDNEY, Australia. Aurora BioScience Pty. Ltd. today announced that it has successfully launched the DigniCap™ scalp cooling system at the recent Cancer Nurses Society of Australia (CNSA) Winter Congress. The meeting was held in Hobart, Australia from the 26th to the 28th of July 2012.

The DigniCap™ system, manufactured by Dignitana, Sweden, has been developed to provide continuous scalp cooling with high efficiency, safety and acceptable patient comfort to eliminate or greatly reduce chemotherapy induced hair loss.

The system consists of a tight-fitting silicone cap connected to a cooling and control unit. There are canals in the cap through which coolant can circulate. To ensure the best fit and treatment temperature, an elastic and insulating outer cap of neoprene is used.

The DigniCap™ product has been used by thousands of patients, and is patented in Europe, Japan and the USA.

Aurora BioScience entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Dignitana in 2012; under the agreement Aurora Bioscience will be exclusively responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution in both the Australian and New Zealand markets.

“Some chemotherapy regimes can cause hair loss (alopecia). For many people this change in their appearance is yet another strain, a reminder of the disease and the treatment” said Darren Banks, Managing Director of Aurora BioScience. “Hair loss is ranked by patients as one of the most traumatic side effects of chemotherapy. Many years after treatment is completed, patients describe their experience of losing the hair as worse than being diagnosed with cancer.”

The DigniCap™ system has been developed based on clinical experiences at the University Hospitals in Umeå and Lund. The temperature sensors in the cooling cap are unique for DigniCap™ and make the system self-regulating with constant and stable cooling.

The system allows two patients to be treated simultaneously, but totally independent of each other. These features means that scalp cooling with the DigniCap™ system gives impressive results with more than 80% of the patients treated having kept their hair during their chemotherapy regimes.

“We are excited to be partnering with such an innovative company as Dignitana and believe the DigniCap™ system can have a significant impact of patient’s lives. We are expecting the first procedures to be undertaken in Australia in September with many institutions very keen to evaluate the product” stated Mr. Banks.

About Aurora BioScience Pty Ltd

Located in Sydney Australia, Aurora BioScience is committed to providing advanced, high quality medical devices and healthcare products to assist medical professionals within Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands healthcare markets, to contribute to the enhancement of patient’s quality of life. Our areas of interest include cancer therapies, neurology, pulmonology, haematology and blood products. For more information, please visit www.aurorabioscience.com.au

About Dignitana.

Dignitana’s business concept is to develop, manufacture and market a medical device primarily used for scalp cooling, to eliminate or greatly reduce chemotherapy induced hair loss.

The company focuses on the patented product DigniCap™, which counteracts hair loss during chemotherapy. The product has been used by thousands of patients, and is patented in Europe, Japan and the USA. A new generation of the DigniCap™ system was delivered to the first customers in the summer of 2009.

Dignitana is certified under ISO 13 485 and the company’s products are CE certified as class II a.